Tarboush Cafe in Watford

We've gotten take away from Tarboush several times now and each time I'm overwhelmed. Without question it's the most beautiful meal I've ever had. The flavors sing, it's like poetry on the tongue. It has changed my genetic make up. My cells are now made of moussaka. Sambouseks dipped in toum run through my veins. I am bliss incarnate.

Had my birthday dinner with friends, and it was such a delight

Friendly staff, tasty food and for a good price, in a relaxed and nicely decorated interior. Definitely going back!

Fresh and really tasty food. The staff are very lovely.

Only just discovered this place, surprised I had not heard about it previously!

What a fantastic venue! Service was just the best! 13 of us from Argentina, Jamaica, Colombia, uk, Spain, USA, Italy, India, South Africa and Poland.! Food was amazing and all loved it for the spice, flavour and type of food! You have new fans. Thank you 🙏 x

Tried was ok but somewhere that I won't be in a hurry to get back to

We attended Tarboush late one evening after visiting Warner Brothers studios. Due to the time I called and checked the opening times. We reached Tarboush at around 2225 and had a warm welcome by the team. The place was supposed to be closing at 2300. The team led by Elena took great care of us. The food was fresh and heavenly. My 16, 11 and 7 years old kids loved the food. It was my birthday the team made it memorable with a surprise dessert topped with candle and a birthday song. The whole experience was excellent. The restaurant remained open beyond closing time until we finished. We were not rushed and rather encouraged to eat peacefully before a two hours journey to East Midlands. The staff here are friendly and welcoming and I highly recommend this place. The team leader Elena was very welcoming and friendly.

AmZing place to dine in!all superb

Had my birthday celebrations with my daughters and granddaughters. A really lovely afternoon. Beautiful food and lovely atmosphere. Will definitely return . Thankyou

My favourite restaurant in Watford. They have brought back their meze which is amazing. For a vegetarian this is a delicious meal. A special mention for Elena. She always offers the most warm and welcoming of service. I highly recommend you visit here, you will definitely come back.

Highly recommended. Staff are so lovely and very helpful. Excellent food, couldn’t fault a thing. Entertainment is fun . Bonus is you can take your own alcohol. Lovely place to go for good food and a warm welcome. Booking essential.

Great little place, good food, excellent service! A little over priced but all good!

I have searched for Lebanese restaurant so I can order chicken shawarma but when I got it, it was actually a chicken Turkish doner.

Such friendly service. The staff are so lovely.

Excellent service by the staff who made is very accommodating and super entertainment 👏

The food mezze/starters bit on the tight side for the charge e.g. Hummus. Then there are cases where the portion size is right but it is over priced e.g. Chicken liver. So the bill will rack up quite quickly. Food taster can be slightly bland o spice and garlic e.g. Sujak is not the proper spicy sausage. Baba is nice and smokey flavoured even though slightly bland. Tabbouleh is nice. Falafel is nice. Service is fast and attentive. Overall enjoyed the experience.

Excellent venue for Christmas meal, fab waitress, very friendly and funny.

Awesome food and.great place to sit and have a family meal. Super tasty food with a nice bakalava dessert.

Wonderful authentic food. Lovely atmosphere and very friendly staff.

Wish I could give more stars! We came today for our annual District Christmas Lunch. And we were not disappointed…warm and friendly welcome from the lovely waitress upon arrival. She was fantastic! Was very attentive, and so polite. The restaurant was so beautiful. I loved how it was decorated so traditionally to feel like you were actually in the Middle East. The food, was absolutely delicious. All very hot, fresh, and very generous portions too. We had the set menu and we all left with very full bellies. Would absolutely recommend this place to everyone! Will be back for regular lunch trips! :) thankyou Tarboush!

Great place to go. The food is very nice & and I will go back

Went here for an Xmas meal with work colleagues, brilliant all round. As an update, this was just as good for the second year.

Lovely food, service was excellent considering it was the end of an EXTREMELY busy evening. Found seats for us at the end of the night and very attentive Polish waitress.

Great atmosphere. Service was good Great entertainment. Kebabs a little dry

Nice atmosphere with very helpful staff and delicious food with generous portions

Food was beautiful, tea was sublime, service was impeccable. Highly recommend the sujuk and lamb kofta along with the cinnamon tea

Went for lunch. Food was delicious. Staff were friendly and helpful. It was very quiet because we went at lunchtime on a weekday.

Lovely food and great service, at a very reasonable price.

The atmosphere in the venue is really authentic. Give you the vibe you are in the Middle east. The food is really tasty and well served. In general good place to have lunch or dinner

A reasonable place to have a good sheesha and snack

Vibrant atmosphere with lovely welcoming staff and food was amazing as expected! 🙌🏼

The food is usually great but last time we went there was a really awful waste like smell and the food seemed off.

Amazing amazing amazing. Love Middle Eastern food and I would have to say some of the best I’ve ever had and I lived in Dubai for 3 years! Staff were superb and Zainab is an absolute legend. Loved every single minute.

The best restaurant in Watford! The food and the atmosphere is simply fantastic. We have been dining in Tarboush for some time now and each time we come we feel like we have had the most amazing time. All thanks to Elena and Sylwia. Thank you for looking after us!

Really it is a great place to spend time with family and friends and try delicious food. Service is wonderful - 5 stars, no doubts! 👍👍👍👍👍

We had a lovely time. We enjoyed the food especially the moussaka and the hummus.

What an amazing place from the decor to food to people. Best food eaten for sooo long and served with great side dishes. The service is simply wonderful making it feel homely and the decor is inkeeping. Will definitely be back soon

It was definitely a memorable evening. The restaurant is done up well to reflect a middle eastern setting. The decor is spot on and ticks all the boxes. The food is good but probably didn't stand out. This could be because everything else about the restaurant was brilliant :-) we found the food was of good quality but some of the grilled meat felt a bit dry and over done. The potions are generous and we had to pack and take away a lot of food. The service is outstanding and this will be the key reason we will come back. The staff are an absolute delight and are always attentive. They deserve a 10 out of 5 points.

Loved the restaurant and food there . Service is amazing and very Arabic oriental atmosphere, sending love from the twins

People are kind, Food is amazing super underrated Feels like home oriental place with kind people Elena was really nice and welcoming 10/10 Love from the twinZ

Loved this restaurant, and their food quality was pretty high. Both waitresses were amzingly helpful and nice.

Amazing food, great atmosphere, friendly staff & good shisha! Have been regularly coming here for a few years now & never had any issues. Special thanks to all the staff members, you all go above and beyond to keep the customers satisfied!

First visit and it won't be the last. Our server made our visit very special . Tha k you all for a lovely evening 💕

Ordered lamb and chicken shawarmas for takeaway. They all were disgusting. Chicken was pink and there was some smell in it as well. Never ever again.

Amazing food and so much of it. Lovely service.

Friendly atmosphere, happy attentive staff, restaurant clean, food served in a timely manner and tasted amazing. Worth the visit.

Not a great experience I’m afraid. There were people smoking Shisha pipes inside the restaurant and the smell was over powering the taste of the food. We all felt the food was bland and uninteresting, so we left most of it and when the plates were cleared, we were never asked if everything was ok (surely it was obvious by the fact that the food was barely touched!). We didn’t want to start complaining as my friend had a banging headache from the pipe smoke, so we quickly paid and left. To be fair to you, we didn’t give you the chance to rectify the problem as we just wanted to leave, and I don’t know what you could have done if we had complained as we didn’t enjoy any of it! The service was friendly and polite, so we paid the included tip. It wasn’t cheap and the food just didn’t live up to our expectations so we won’t be returning

Good restaurant run by very nice people but the food is average compared to few others nearby The sharing board was good mezze and possibly best Baba ganoush we have eaten but the mains were not comparable with flavourless rice and lamb skewers The place offers BYOB and charges £3 per person for it

Great food, great no fuss setting, very friendly staff and bring your own alcohol. We’ve been here twice now and have been very happy with the overall experience - great value for money too. Staff are extremely friendly and very efficient too

Elena is giving the best service we had in London so far... At the food was really delicious

The restaurant is very clean, staff very friendly, food is fresh and neatly presented. One of the best restaurants I have visited as a seasoned traveller.

We had a large family meal for a birthday celebration.. As usual everything was perfect. The staff are very attentive and are there when ever needed. The food is authentic and tasty. I would highly recommend going to try this restaurant out.. You can’t really go wrong.

My daughter and I dined here, the food was absolutely amazing, fresh, hot and very tasty. We ordered the veg mezze platter for 1 and we not disappointed, we ordered 4 other smaller side plates, they were all equally lovely. The staff were so polite and attentive. Hidden gem

Food was ok. We had a Mezze dish for £28 for 2 which was fine but there really wasn’t much of it. The service was very good but I feel the food was nothing special. We would have eaten more but decided that was enough based on what we had eaten so far.

Really tasty food and friendly Stuff. We had a relaxed dinner time. Mixed grill plate was my favorite.

One of the waitresses hunted a song down for me when I asked her the name. Such sweet and comfortable service. We were told the food was better than the restaurant itself and it did not disappoint! It also happened to be my birthday the next day and when they found out, I received a delicious complimentary dessert and a wonderful hug for our hostess! Highly recommend if you have dietary restrictions, the food and service is to die for! Thank you so much for such a wonderful, unforgettable night!

Such friendly service!! Elaina (I hope I spelt her name correctly) looked after us very well and was very knowledgeable with all the allergens. This is a great place for people with Coeliac Disease/ gluten free. The food was delicious, we had the mezze dishes and we loved the decor in the place too. Had a lovely evening here for dinner and will be back!

Inevitably you split a restaurant review into several areas, so food - pretty good, atmosphere - the place is so noisy, that unless you are in a party of 12, in which case you won't care, you won't hear yourself or your partner/co-diner speak. Service - alright. Now my bugbear toilets - disgusting, Health & Safety take note! Correct, I am definitely not going back.

What a delightful place. This is the 3rd time I have been here and it gets better every time. The service is just lovely, every waitress smiling happily and so helpful. The food is outstanding... and I really do not say that very often. The cold mezze were individually flavourful. I don't normally like vine leaves but theirs was lovely. We had a selection of cold dips- the babaghanoush was some of the best I have ever had. The mains were yummy, My friends had mixed grill and lamb kofte and I had chicken wings. The wings just fell off the bone and were cripsy on the outside. Even the obligatory salad it came with was lovely... The bill was just under £100 for 3 of us who are a LOT! (no booze or pudding)... Will come back for sure. Thank you all

Always go here, one of the top restaurants in Watford for sure. Food is always amazing and staff are so friendly and understanding. Recommend highly to anyone! Great for vegetarians!

Nice Food. Had to wait a considerable amount of time for the food to arrive, far too long to be honest. Other people who came in afterwards got served much quicker. Not sure what went wrong.

We held our sons second birthday here on 29th July 2023. I can't praise the staff enough here, they made sure every need was taken care of so that we could have a stress free event instead of worrying about hosting. Our guests were very well looked after and had a lovely time also. The food was exceptional everything perfectly cooked and lots of attention to detail while serving. Before we arrived they had already decorated and set up our drinks for us, and also organised bringing the cake in when we were ready. The private rooms are a lovely highlight to the restaurant. We had the best day and would definitely host other events here from such a brilliant experience! Highly recommended if you are considering this restaurant

A warm welcome to this esta. Beautiful food, great staff, giving an insight to the menu, proving most helpful

Didn't get served. No menu or anybody coming over to us waiting there 10min. Walked out.

Amazing food and really lovely helpful service. Plenty of well labelled vegan and gluten free options and the staff made all allergen information very clear. Thank you so much! We will definitely be ordering again :)

My friend hadn’t been before so we decided to share a few hot Mezze plates. We chose Sujuk (spicy sausages), Moutabal Shawarma Chicken, Baba Ghanouj, Potato Kibbeh & the waitress’s suggestion of Toshka. All delicious 😋

Very nice food. The kids loved it. I would thoughly recommend eating here. I would recommend the Lamb and chicken Shawarma.

This food was incredible and the service very personal and 5 star!! Sylvia was so kind and accommodating - thank you so much! We hope you and your nephew enjoy Harry Potter world Ashyla - thank you also!

Lovely atmosphere and decor. Very friendly and polite staff. Food could have done with more flavour but can't fault the rest. Shisha was good and there was decent seating in the back where you can also order food. I'd go again and would recommend for starters and the shisha.

GLUTEN FREE VEGETARIAN + ALL ALLERGIES CATERED FOR. This is a fantastic restaurant to choose if you are gluten-free. Everything is fully marked up. I am gluten free and vegetarian and had an abundance of choice. The food was absolutely sublime. We stopped here while travelling from Central London to Shropshire. I'm so pleased we found it, and will certainly re-visit on our travels. The restaurant is beautiful inside and has a very chilled out atmosphere, I found it very relaxing and welcoming. The vegetarian moussaka was delicious and my husband enjoyed the mixed grill. This is the most comprehensive menu I have ever seen in a restaurant. The information included here should be the gold standard for all restaurants. The main menu has everything marked, absolutely everything. They are very knowledgeable about all allergies and the cross contamination. They give you the information you need to make a considered choice when ordering. I felt very safe in ordering and eating food here.

Food was not as nice as I remembered from many years ago. My lamb was tough and did not taste fresh. Still lovely service and traditional decor.

We really wanted a tagine and were certainly not disappointed. The meal was plentiful, tasty and tender and the service from Mariana was excellent. Thoroughly recommend this place.

Nice place, good food. The cold and hot meze were excellent. The main courses were nice too, except the kofte that it was cold and not fresh

Food was dry and flavourless. Had to return our drink due to dirt in the glass. We sat outside and the gazebo cover was insecure and constantly blowing into our table!

excellent food and service. krishna and sylvia went above and beyond with the service. friendly and helpful. food was good and flavourful. all dishes ordered were fantastic, even the drinks. highly recommend

Staff were extremely rude, and was made to pay another person on my table who i did not know. Belly dancer came out for a maximum of 5 mins very underwhelming. DO NOT RECOMMEND AT ALL.

Great food, friendly accompanying staff and a beautiful interior. Fantastic for allergens and intolerances, each dish clearly labelled for such. Hard to find anything to complain about, really enjoyed it

Food was great quality, really fresh and well cooked. Lovely setting and staff were very friendly, great service. Would certainly return if in the area again!

Reviews are massively misleading. This was the blandest and driest Lebanese food I’ve ever had. I read somewhere that this is the ‘best food outside of Beirut’ - what utter nonsense. Nearly everything was subpar as most of the food was clearly reheated, dry and old. When the waiter asked my opinion, I said it wasn’t great, he then said it ‘was my taste’ that was off. I’ve eaten at countless Arab restaurants so I have much to confirm from. Only positive here was the excellent service from the waitress. If you want to eat tasty Arabic food, go some elsewhere and save yourself the time and money

Went with a group of work colleagues for a leaving do . We were really disappointed with the service and the way were treated . Some work mates did not want to eat and were told they still had to pay for the set menu . We were treated with suspicion at all times and argued with . The stater was great but the main was a little dry and the dessert was one tiny square of baklava each with a toothpick in the square . They have definitely lost our repeat custom. Never again !!!!!!!

Food is nice and fresh staff is very helpful will visit again 😀

Tend to come mostly for shisha but have had food here 2 times and enjoyed it, the staff are very friendly and look after us when we come in

Nice place strange rules. Not the real Lebanese food. It is ok for a night out

Have been at Tarboush twice: once for lunch and second time for dinner. The staff promptly accommodated a table for us on the dinner occasion when it was almost fully booked. The service was very good and prompt on both the occasions. The starters and mains are large - pretty much all the mains come with fries, rice, salad and pita bread. You may find it impossible to eat up a main if you also have a starter. You can take the rest home if you wish too, though. The natural juices are delicious and they come in some nice jars. The espresso is not the best but it’s drinkable. They do not serve any alcohol but you can bring your own and serve it in the restaurant (there is a £2 fee for this that gets added to the total bill, but this is transparent and mentioned in the menu, or the staff just tells you upfront if you ask). I recommend this place if you like Lebanese and Mediterranean food!

Food was excellent. Seriously delicious. It felt like central London prices though. The five of us came to £196.

Had a very good lunch here with friends. The dishes we had, shawarma, were very good. In the Netherlands (whereI reside), there are many Middle Eastern restaurants, but the quality varies a lot. However, the food at this restaurant was as authentic as it could be. It was delicious. Staff were very friendly and welcoming. There was a small issue regarding high chairs, which I indicated in my reservation. The restaurant said they could not contact me as I made the reservation with a Dutch number. However, country and international access code were provided and I always use my Dutch mobile number when making reservations in the UK. Other than that, I would definitely come back at this restaurant.

Really great food. Cosy setting inside. Service top notch.

This is the best Lebanese food outside of Beirut

I love this place, I went for my birthday last week, the atmosphere is lovely, the staff is wonderful, ( specially Marniana ) the Portuguese lady, she saw that we speak Portuguese and helped us choose the menu in our language 😀. The food was amazing , what a big starter, I never ate so much in my life. Thanks a lot for making my birthday awesome ( for all staff and chefs )

Maybe I went at a wrong time but service was really slow , it was fair afternoon time around 1pm , I ordered baby chicken , as you can see in the photo it doesn’t come with anything and it’s lumped on a plate that’s small . Garlic sauce was good I’m surprised through for 17.50 this is all you get and the taste is ok . Will try again in the evening and update

Staff are amazing and they have good entertainment - a belly dancer on a Friday night. But if I’m honest the food is bland and mediocre. Would not return. Maybe it was a bad day for the chef but the chicken skewers tasted like they...

Had a really nice meal here on Thursday evening. Usually end up eating Italian but fancied trying something different. Made a nice change ! We sat in the main part of the restaurant. Good service and a lovely atmosphere : x

Excellent food and excellent service

Food was nice but way too overpriced for the portions. There are bottles of water on the table beforehand that you would assume are free but you actually have to pay for and they do add a 10% tip without asking. This was honestly very disappointing.

Amazing party evening that was full of great Moroccan atmosphere and with a belly dancer. Food was fabulous and so much of it. I would definitely go back. One can bring a bottle of wine but the restaurant will charge a small amount, corking charge, so a pop out to a few shops away and got several bottles, and someone else had already done the same,

Eating less than normal Don't eat lean meat... Old serving plates And the employees are confused To be honest, the rating deceived us...

Food was good. Shish tawook was nice and juicy. Felt more Turkish type of food than Lebanese. Usually Lebanese places give you complimentary pita bread and pickled veggies in Canada and USA.

Really lovely food, nice atmosphere and friendly staff! Very beautiful inside! I would of personally preferred a bigger portion! Food is of good quality!

My expectations were high, but they are serving average kebabs and mezzes.